187
CHARLESSON—CHARLEWOOD.
Ulysses 44, Intrepid 64, and Captain 74, all commanded by Capt. Christ. John Williams Nesham, under whom, in the Intrepid, he served on shore with a party of seamen at the capture of Martinique, in Feb. 1809, and was present when that ship was severely cut up in an engagement with the French frigates Henriade and Félicité, under the guns of Fort Matilda, Guadeloupe, 15 April following. In Dec. 1809, he removed to the Tonnant 80, Capt. Hassard Stackpoole, and sailed for the port of Cadiz, where, on being appointed to the command of a gun-boat, he witnessed the destruction of a Spanish prison-ship, co-operated in the defence of Fort Matagorda, lost nearly the whole of his crew in killed and wounded, was himself severely injured, and obtained for his services an Acting-Lieutenancy in the Téméraire 98, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Fras. Pickmore, by whom he appears to have been soon after detached to assist in navigating the Fernando Septimo, of 120 guns, to Port Mahon. Having been officially promoted in the Minorca 18, Capt. Ralph Randolph Wormeley, 18 April, 1811, and been for some time successfully employed in cruizing between Tunis and Sicily, Lieut. Chappell returned to England in the Implacable 74, Capt. Joshua Rowley Watson, and was paid off in Nov. 1812. We afterwards find him appointed – 3 Dec. 1812, to the Rosamond 20, Capts. Donald Campbell and Edw. Stopford, in which he visited the shores of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson’s Bay – 9 Jan. 1815, to the Beaver 10, Capt. Edw. O’Brien Drury, lying at Sheerness – and, 17 Jan. 1815, as Senior, to the Leven 20, Capt. Buckland Stirling Bluett, which vessel, after being employed, during the war of 100 days, in supplying arms to the Royalists in La Vendée, was placed out of commission in Nov. 1815. From 8 Feb. 1819, until advanced, in acknowledgment of his effective services, to the rank of Commander 19 April, 1826, Mr. Chappell was next engaged on the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Severn, Ramillies, and Hyperion, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Wm. Jas. Mingaye. He had, during that period, been strongly recommended by the Grand Jury of Sussex, and highly complimented by the Judge, for his exertions in detecting and convicting a gang of smugglers at Bexhill; and had also, in 1822, received the thanks of the East India Directors, accompanied by a piece of plate, valued at 100 guineas, for going off in a boat and rescuing the passengers and crew of the Thames Indiaman, when that ship was wrecked near Beachy Head. Immediately on his promotion, Capt. Chappell was appointed, under the Post-office, to superintend the Steam-Packet Establishment at Milford, whence he was subsequently removed to Liverpool, and there, on the Packet-service being transferred to the surveillance of the Admiralty, placed in command, 27 June, 1837, of the Redwing steamer, from which he was posted 27 Dec. 1838. In 1840 we find him, by order of the Board of Admiralty, circumnavigating Great Britain in the Archimedes steamer, for the purpose of reporting on the properties of the screw-propeller. At present he is on half-pay.
Capt. Chappell has been frequently examined by Committees of the House of Commons on matters connected with steam-navigation; and on one occasion he was employed by the President of the Board of Trade to prepare the rough draft of an Act of Parliament for the regulation of steam-vessels. In Dec. 1840, he was appointed Marine Superintendent, and in Feb. 1842, Secretary to the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, in which latter Capacity he now officiates. We should not omit stating that Capt. Chappell, in 1817, published a narrative of a ‘Voyage to Hudson’s Bay,’ &c., another, in 1818, of one to ‘Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador,’ and, in 1840, the results of his experiments in the Archimedes. He married, 5 Oct. 1819, Elizabeth, only child of Commander Wm. Wood (a), R.N., by whom, who died 14 Jan. 1842, he has living one daughter. Agent – J. Chippendale.
CHARLESSON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 9; h-p., 31.)
Laurence Charlesson died 17 May, 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Emerald 36, Capt. Fred. Lewis Maitland, under whom he assisted in April, 1807, at the capture of the Austerlitz privateer, of 14 guns and 96 men; was for the remainder of that year employed in blockading Rochefort; and witnessed, on the night of 13 March, 1808, the destruction, in Vivero Harbour, in face of a desperate opposition, of a large French schooner, L’Apropos, of 8 guns and 70 men. On 29 May following he joined, as Midshipman, the Eurydice 28, Capt. Robt. Ramsay, stationed on the coast of Spain; removed, in Aug. of the same year, to the Salvador Del Mundo first-rate, bearing the flag of Admiral Young at Plymouth; served, from March, 1810, until Oct. 1812, on board the Rodney 74, and Ville de Paris 110, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Burlton, off the port of Cadiz and in the Mediterranean; and, until promoted, 15 Feb. 1815, was afterwards employed, on the latter station, a great part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the Scout 18, and Hyacinth 24, each commanded by Capt. Alex. Renton Sharpe, Fame 74, Capt. Walter Bathurst, and Hyacinth again, Capt. A. R. Sharpe. He did not again go afloat. – Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
CHARLESSON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 32; h-p., 10.)
Richard Williams Charlesson entered the Navy, 25 March, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Leopard 50, Capt. Rich. Raggett; and, on 4 Dec. 1806, became Midshipman of the Africa 64, Capts. Henry Wm. Bayntun and John Barrett, then at the Rio de la Plata. On 20 Oct. 1808, the latter ship, while in escort of a large convoy, was attacked, in the Malmo channel, south of Sweden, by a powerful flotilla of gun-boats, with whom she continued an action of nearly four hours, when, darkness closing the fight, her loss, independently of considerable damage in hull and rigging, amounted, it was found, to 9 men killed and 53 wounded. Removing, next, to the Aetna bomb, Capts. Wm. Godfrey, Paul Lawless, and John Bowker, Mr. Charlesson took part, and was slightly wounded, in Lord Gambier’s attack, of 11 and 12 April, 1809, on the French shipping in Basque Roads;[1] after which we find him attending the proximate expedition to Flushing, and serving at the siege of Cadiz. In Sept. 1810, he was transferred, with Capt. Bowker, to the Wizard 18, commanded afterwards by Capt. Fairfax Moresby, on the Mediterranean station. On his return home in the Topaze 38, Capt. Edw. Harvey, in Jan. 1812, he joined the Royal William, guard-ship at Spithead; and, after a further attachment, as Master’s Mate, to the Porcupine 22, and Surveillant 38, both commanded by Capt. Robt. Elliott, Namur 74, Capt. Fras. Wm. Austen, and Sydney surveying-vessel, Master-Commander Geo. Holbroke, on the South American, Home, and Newfoundland stations, was promoted to his present rank 11 Feb. 1815. He was next appointed, 28 March, 1826, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74, Capt. Hugh Pigot; and, entering the Coast Guard 24 July, 1830, continued in that service until 27 Feb. 1843, when he assumed charge of the Royal George Revenue-vessel, in which he is now employed.
CHARLEWOOD. (Commander, 1840. f-p., 13; h-p., 7.)
Edward Philips Charlewood, born 14 Nov. 1814, at Oak Hill, co. Stafford, is youngest son of the Rev. C. B. Charlewood, of that place. This officer entered the Royal Naval College 7 June, 1827, and embarked, 12 June, 1829, as Midshipman, on board the Favourite 18, Capt. Joseph Harrison, with whom he served on the coast of
- ↑ Vide Gaz, 1809, p. 539.
